Hardcover.app vs Now Reading
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Hardcover.app
This app helps you organize and discover books. Track what you've read, create custom lists, and see what friends are reading. Set reading goals and share your thoughts on books.
- Track read and to-read books
- Organize with lists and tags
- See friends' reading activity
- Discover trending books
- Rate and review books
- Set reading goals
- Track reading statistics
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Hardcover is a book tracking app with a social side, built for readers, not algorithms. Add books you’ve read or want to read. Keep your library tidy with lists and tags. See what your friends are reading, explore trending picks, and discover hidden gems through curated lists. Rate, review, and share your thoughts. Make your profile public, private, or friends-only—your reading, your rules. Set goals, track your stats, and find your reading rhythm. We use Apple's standard Terms of Service (EULA). https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Now Reading
Log books you are currently reading, have finished, or want to read. Display original or custom book covers and share your reading progress with friends through widgets or by swiping through your logged books.
- Track current reads
- Archive finished books
- Manage wishlist
- Display book covers
- Share reading progress
- Widget support
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Introducing Now Reading - a simple yet crafted book journal app. You can add what you're reading, archive what you already have read, and books you'd like to read in the future. This app displays the original book cover (direct attachment needed) or with the custom designed beautiful original book covers. Share what you read with your friends by swiping through books you logged or through the widget.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Now Reading at 100% against Hardcover.app's 52%. Now Reading also leads on rating (5.0 vs 4.2) and in-app purchases (none vs 2). Hardcover.app's advantage is ratings volume (60 vs 2) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.5). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Hardcover.app sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Now Reading asks for nothing beyond the download.
Now Reading holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.2. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Hardcover.app has 60 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 52% of Hardcover.app's written reviews are positive against 100% of Now Reading's.
Hardcover.app ships an update every 6 months, Now Reading weekly. The most recent releases landed on September 23, 2026 and September 21, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Hardcover.app | Now Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.2 (60 ratings) | 5.0 (2 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 52.4% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 60 — better | 2 |
| Update frequency | Every 6 months | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 17.5 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 8 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Hardcover LLC | Minsang choi |
Customer experience
Hardcover.app
Now Reading
In-app purchases
Hardcover.app
- Supporter - Monthly$4.991 Month
- Supporter - Yearly$49.991 Year
Now Reading
No in-app purchases
